abuse of dominant positionabuse of dominant

Abuse of Dominance
Abuse of a dominant position occurs when a dominant firm in a market, or
a dominant group of firms, engages in conduct that is intended to eliminate
or discipline a competitor or to deter future entry by new competitors, with
the result that competition is prevented or lessened substantially. These
provisions, contained in sections 78 and 79 of theCompetition Act, establish
the bounds of legitimate competitive behaviour and provide for corrective
action when firms engage in anti-competitive activities that damage or
eliminate competitors and that maintain, entrench or enhance their market
power.
Where appropriate, the Commissioner will open discussions to try to obtain
voluntary compliance with the law; sometimes this is all the action needed
to correct the situation. A more formal solution would involve the
registration of a consent agreement with the Competition Tribunal when all
parties agree on a solution that will restore competition to the marketplace.
The Competition Tribunal is like a court, chaired by a judge and
independent of any government department.
If voluntary compliance cannot be achieved, the Commissioner may file an
application for an order before the Competition Tribunal to remedy the
situation.
Subsection 79(1) sets out three essential elements that must be found to
exist for the Competition Tribunal to grant an order. The Tribunal must find
that:

1. one or more persons substantially or completely control, throughout

Canada or any area thereof, a class or species of business;
2. that person or these persons have engaged or are engaging in a
practice of anti-competitive acts; and
3. the practice has had, is having or is likely to have the effect of
preventing or lessening competition substantially in a market.
The Tribunal has a number of remedies at its disposal to overcome the
effects of anti-competitive acts and restore competition. The most common
remedy is an order that requires the anti-competitive conduct to stop. The
Tribunal may also impose an administrative monetary penalty on the
company that was found to have abused its dominant position. This penalty
can be for any amount up to $10,000,000 for the first order
and $15,000,000 for any subsequent order made by the Tribunal against
the same company.

CEASE DESIST

A cease and desist letter, also known as "infringement letter" or "demand letter," is
a document sent to an individual or business to halt purportedly unlawful activity
("cease") and not take it up again later ("desist"). The letter may warn that if the
recipient by deadlines set in the letter does not cease and desist specified conduct,
or take certain actions, that party may be sued. [1][2]

cartelized penalty

In economics, a cartel is an agreement between competing firms to control prices or

exclude entry of a new competitor in a market. It is a formal organization of sellers or
buyers that agree to fix selling prices, purchase prices, or reduce production using a
variety of tactics.[1] Cartels usually arise in an oligopolistic industry, where the
number of sellers is small or sales are highly concentrated and the products being

traded are usually commodities. Cartel members may agree on such matters as
setting minimum or target prices (price fixing), reducing total industry output,
fixing market shares, allocating customers, allocating territories, bid rigging,
establishment of common sales agencies, altering the conditions of sale, or
combination of these. The aim of such collusion (also called the cartel agreement)
is to increase individual members' profits by reducing competition. If the cartelists do
not agree on market shares, they must have a plan to share the
extra monopoly profits generated by the cartel.